Mon 6.1.

The facade of Theory North Beverly in Beverly Hills, CA designed by Nendo, photo: Daici Ano.

Tokyo-based Nendo has designed several shop interiors for Theory, the New York-based fashion brand known for basics that fuse functionality with casual trends.

The interior of Theory Melrose in Los Angeles, CA designed by Nendo, photo: Daici Ano.

“We designed the interiors for two shops in Paris and Los Angeles and one shop each in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Osaka.” says Nendo. “Our idea was to adhere to the brand’s existing combination of simplicity and functionality with New York loft-style materials and a general sense of ease, while adding and emphasizing a new concept: the flow of people.”

The interior of Theory North Beverly in Beverly Hills, CA designed by Nendo, photo: Daici Ano.

“By coming up with a circulation plan as an urban planner might locate new roads within a city, we made careful provisions for people to flow into the shop naturally and move smoothly around it. For the London shop, we created a ‘boulevard’ that follows on directly from the crosswalk outside the shop.”

The facade of Theory Melrose in Los Angeles, CA designed by Nendo, photo: Daici Ano.

“The Paris shop is located on a corner, so we installed entrances on both outward-facing walls and arranged a softly curving ‘short cut’ between them. We then added ‘plaza’ and ‘park’-like product display stages and lounge corners like to fit with the ‘road system’ in each shop and modulate each space. Together, these touches allowed us to respond to the different demands placed on the shop space while creating new flows of people that may, we hope, flow out into and color the city space around the shops, too.”